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| Carpenters, 1999. Credit Martin Easdown |
Licensee
Leslie Carpenter 1987 2000 Also Oddfellows Arms 1984-91. Renamed Mariner (2)
Folkestone Herald 24-1-1992
Local News
Publicans are prepared to lose their jobs and homes
rather than sign new leases they say could double their rents. Half the
publicans in Fover being offered these contracts and two thirds in Shepway are
rebelling, say the local branches of the Licensed Victuallers` Association.
“It`s like signing a suicide pact, and I won`t do it”,
says Rick Abbott, who runs the Cricketers in River. He added “I have a wife and
three children and we would lose our home, but we would be ruined if I signed”.
Big breweries, with more than 2,000 pubs in the country,
are selling pubs or offering 20-year leases because the Monopolies and Mergers
Commission is restricting how many they can have.
Alf Bentley, landlord of the Red Lion in Charlton Green,
Dover, said “This is as ill-conceived as the poll tax. What use is a 20-year
lease to me when I am 60? The breweries are also driving out experienced
landlords and replacing them with people who were probably bakers before”.
Leslie Carpenter, of Carpenter`s in The Stade,
Folkestone, said “My own rent will only go up by a third, but I couldn`t even
manage that. I am prepared to lose my job rather than accept. It`s hard enough
to survive with the recession. We`ve just lost more customers through the
Sealink redundancies”.
The L.V.A. says the increases would further damage pubs
because landlords would have to put up their prices to try to survive. They say
the cost of a pint is now pushing £2.
Only last week Barry Musk walked out of the pub where he
had been a tenant for four years, the Red Cow, in Foord Road, Folkestone. He
now manages a free house, the Imperial, in Black Bull Road. He said “Signing
would have meant my rent going up from £12,000 a year to £20,000, which would
have ruined me. I was lucky because I found another pub without that kind of
expense”.
All four pubs are owned by Whitbread. A spokesman said
the company was willing to negotiate with landlords if they could not afford
new rents. “The LVA claims that rents will double, but I dispute that. Our own
survey shows that overall rents have increased by just 45 percent”, he added.
Whitbread says Government legislation has been put it and other brewers in a
dilemma. The new Landlord and Tenant Act gives publicans security of tenure, yet
the Monopolies Commission says brewers must get rid of pubs.
Folkestone Herald
8-6-1995
Local News
A furious bride-to-be has had to call back all her
wedding invitations after a mix-up over the booking for the reception.
Bernice Scanlon went to the Harbour pub, Folkestone, at
the end of April to ask about a wedding reception for 70 people in August. She
claims the manager booked the date in the diary and told her to return a month
later to discuss a price and pay a deposit. But when she went back at the end
of May Miss Scanlon said she was told no
booking had been made and there was no way the pub`s restaurant could seat 70.
Miss Scanlon, 22, of Cheriton Road, Folkestone, who works as a barmaid at
Jolson`s nightclub in Tontine Street, said “When I went the first time I asked
if they could do a sit-down meal for 70 people on August 19. The manager put my
name and phone number in the diary and said they would definitely be able to do
it. He told me to come back for a quote, but said it would be fine and there
would be no problem. He said it was going to be refurbished and the place would
be beautiful for me. But when I went back I was told there was no way they
could seat that many people in the restaurant and they couldn`t do the
reception. I thought they were joking, it was such a shock. I have sent out all
the invitations and paid for everything. It`s only nine weeks until I get
married and I`ve got to start all over again. Surely they could have rung me to
let me know. I have complained to the brewery`s head office about it but I
haven`t heard anything yet”.
But Helen Waters, manageress of The Harbour, said that
although the reception had been entered in the diary no definite booking was
made. She said “It was a provisional booking and she was asked to come back in
a month to confirm it and sort out a price. I don`t know why she sent out her
invitations before it had been confirmed. Andy, the manager, made a note of the
date and numbers in the diary. He told her vwe were waiting for a refurbishment
and she would need to come back and see us at the end of May. We haven`t got 70
seats in the restaurant, and still won`t have that many after the refurbishment
has been done. She got very angry when I told her it hadn`t been booked, but
she hadn`t agreed a price and had nothing in writing. I didn`t know we had her
phone number, but if I had I would have phoned and told her we couldn`t do it.
I did apologise to her when she came in”.
Bernice, whose fiancé Philip Yates, also 22, is serving
in the Army at Aldershot, has now booked a reception at The Carpenters, in The
Stade, Folkestone, and is sending out new invitations. She said “I`ve got to
get all the old invitations back and have them all redone. They cost me £50,
but now I`ll buy cheap ones because i can`t afford to spend so much again. I`m
very angry indeed”.
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